PB Speck at Rudee 11/06

[Jman]

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Caught my personal best Speckled Trout (20.5") at Rudee inlet today. I am slowly learning the differences between trolling for Stripers and trolling for Specks with a lot of trial and error. It was a beautiful day out and the dolphins were just outside the inlet today.

[AbuMasgouf]

Nice fish! Congrats!

[ComeOnFish]

Thanks for the report. It must have been a real nice cozy day. You were wearing a shorts. 20.5 incher is a pretty good size this time of the year as specks move to the south. I think we have two more weeks for specks in Rudee.

Joe

[DanMarino]

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Caught my personal best Speckled Trout (20.5") at Rudee inlet today. I am slowly learning the differences between trolling for Stripers and trolling for Specks with a lot of trial and error. It was a beautiful day out and the dolphins were just outside the inlet today.

Jman, nice fish. Can you explain the difference for how to troll for stripers vs. specks?

[Jman]

Thanks guys! I think that will be my last day wearing shorts. Time to bring out the waders.

[Jman]

Jman, nice fish. Can you explain the difference for how to troll for stripers vs. specks?

The main difference is the speed that you troll at. I troll really slow for specks, like barely moving. It seemed odd to me, because I was used to trolling for striper at a much faster pace, but it works for me. I use a lighter jig head for the specks, somewhere between 1/4 oz and 1/2 oz. I usually tie a different weight on each rod, so I can figure out where in the water column the fish are. For example last week, I only caught a couple shorts on the lighter weight and I caught all of the larger specks on the heavier weight. I've been playing around with different jig head colors to test if there might be a difference between them if I use the same color paddle tail.

Landing some of the larger specks is a challenge because of all the head shaking. I definitely haven't had a striper shake their head like that. Hope that helps and like I said I am new to fishing for specks down here, so there's much to learn!

[DanMarino]

Thanks Jman. That's a very helpful explanation of your observations and what has worked for you. I'm a rookie at salt fishing. My family has a place in the OBX, so I'm starting to try and figure out what might work fishing wise down there near Duck, NC.

[ComeOnFish]

Thanks Jman. That's a very helpful explanation of your observations and what has worked for you. I'm a rookie at salt fishing. My family has a place in the OBX, so I'm starting to try and figure out what might work fishing wise down there near Duck, NC.

Dan,
To me, specks on the bottom in 15' plus water don't bite. They aren't in the mood. To me, specks in 4-12' in the water bite. The cold air for 2-3 days before the fishing doesn't help in 55 F - 65 F water. You want a warming trend for at least 2 days.

Specks in MD or VA (Rudee) in the edge line between 3' and 12' bite. So trolling ZIG-ZAG these edge line is the key for me. My Friend in NC finally catching them by ZIG-ZAGging the edge between 3' and 6'. The place shallow. The deepest area is about 12' deep. The trolling speed should be 2 MPH depending on the lure types.
I use 3/16 OZ (large gap hook) for 5" BA Salt and Pepper with green paddle tail or Pink tail. Some time Silver and black back 5" skinny swim bait works deadly.
But the depth of the lure depends on the jig weight, line length and your trolling speed. I prefer long line out over heavy jigs if there are less boat traffic.
My GO-TO lure is Mirro-Lure 52MR21. This is the one you troll a little faster for specks at 2 - 2.5 MPH. With this I fill 3 kayaks (kayakers I met at Rudee) often - I didn't say giving fishing away in my fishing reports at all.
You can cast the Mirro-Lure. stop and retrieve tactic is also important if Puppy are around. It is all about the lure depths and the lure speed.

Trolling ZIG-ZAG accomplishes few things (in MD, VA, and FL):

• You change trolling speed. The speed of the port side lure increases while the speed of the starboard side lure decreases when you make turn to the starboard side. The angle of the Turn and speed while turning are the one your experience will tell you.
• Because of the speed of the lure changes, your lure depths changes. I think a few feet lure depths make differences many time for may species.
• Don't troll along the edge line. By trolling along the edge line, you kayak is going over them, resulted in spooked fish in the shallow water. When you ZIG- ZAG, your kayak won't go over the fish all the time, but the lures are. So if you want to put your lures in 5-7' water, you will zig-zag between 3' and 10' of the water.
• Concentrate on few target depths. Make it simple. Don't try to cover too many edge lines (too many plans) with big water depths. NC water you will fish will be shallow and possibly narrow.
• Catching has something to do with the directions at a given time and a given place. At the same place at the given time period (30 min - 2hours) one direction is better than the other direction. So many times, I go back to the starting point hurriedly without fising, using different route. This way I don't disturbed the my catching route.

I know your are a good fisherman and I am not a good writer. I hope you understand what I wanted to explain.

Joe